Saturday, April 19, 2008

Another Giveaway!

Let me just say one thing - spring has finally arrived here on the East Coast and it's positively amazing. I spent the day yesterday with 2 of my best friends in Baltimore, just walking around the harbour and enjoying the day. It was positively gorgeous and made me anxious for long summer days with cookouts and BBQ's.

Imagine my surprise when I returned home to find a cookbook waiting for me.

This cookbook looks like it would be just perfect for summer entertaining. Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas is full of recipes for all sorts of pizzas and piadinas. Instructions are included for almost all grilling surfaces, ranging from your typical outdoor grill to indoor grill pans, griddles, and panini makers. As I was flipping through the book, I found plenty of recipes I want to try in the very near future. There's a Gamberian pizza topped with sauteed shrimp with pesto and tomato, The Artisan is topped with roasted vegetables with a creamy garlic cheese, and the Habaneran sounds amazing with hot peppers, avocado, cilantro, and lime. There's also plenty of recipes for carnivores.

This cookbook also includes great recipes for salads and desserts so you can have a full meal. There's a recipe for a S'more pizza that looks absolutely incredible.

So why am I telling you about this fantastic cookbook? Because the publishing company has generously offered an extra copy for one of my readers.

So what do you have to do to win it?Simply leave me a comment with your favorite summer recipe by Midnite, April 22. I'll announce the winner on April 23 and we'll get a copy of this fantastic cookbook in your hot little hands before the weather starts heating up.

36 comments:

Pizza is my absolute favorit food--hands down. I love experimenting with different types of pizza, but here is my "specialty" and one of all-time favorites.

I top a par-baked shell with pumpkin butter as the sauce. On the stove, I carmelize diced sweet onions and simutaneously brown cut-up pancetta. I then spread those over the shell, then top with diced apple or pear and either gorgonzolla or blue cheese and just a small amount of fontina. Bake at 425 for 8 minutes.

My favorite summer recipe: on a dinner plate spread a layer of salad greens (I love a combination of butter lettuce and spinach); add as many chunks of roasted new potato as you like; add vegetables like grilled summer squash, steamed green beans, even cherry tomatoes; add a piece of grilled salmon; pour over all a mixture of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, fresh dill, crushed garlic and a bit of mayo. This tastes like summer to me!

Let me say first that I don't want you to put me into the drawing for the book, lovely as it looks. Being allergic to cheese and not a meat-eater, I wouldn't get much use out of it compare to some of the other people. I'm really just chiming in because it's been a long time and I wanted to say hey, and that I'm still here following along, trolling your archives often for meal ideas.

I'm not sure that I have a favourite summer recipe, but I do have favourite summer meals. I prefer to go easy on the cooking in the summer (no air conditioning in our house!), and our favourite simple supper is some fresh baked bread with various things to spread on or dip it in: hummus, babaghannoush, pickled eggplant, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives. Add a simple garden salad and tabouleh and it seems to be all we need. Bread can be rye from the farmers market or pita from the Lebanese bakery on the corner, depending on how far I feel like walking.

I love your blog, youre recipes are very creative and inspiring. My most favorite summer recipe is caprese salad made with heiloom tomatoes, a good mozarella cheese and fresh basil frommy garden. Sometimes I also add mint from my garden. With a simple balsamic vinegrette, you don't need much else.

2 cups half and half plus the other ingredients, brought to a slight simmer then cooled down. Strain through cheesecloth, add the extra half and half, chill, and add to ice cream maker. Harden in freezer for two hours. Absolutely, positively, ridiculously sublime.

There's so much delicious produce during the summer that I have trouble choosing a single favorite. But here's something that could tie for first place:

Cut up some (perfectly ripe and fragrant) tomatoes into wedges. Thinly slice some cucumber, preferably a variety with tender skins and tiny seeds. Cube an avocado. Do a chiffonade cut on some basil and parsley. Mix all this together, with salt, a squeeze of lemon, and some really good olive oil. Eat with some good bread to soak up any juice that's left.

My favorite summer meal - take a hearty slice of fresh homemade bread and top with a thick slice of heirloom beefsteak tomato, still warm from the summer sun. Sprinkle with sea salt and a chiffonade of basil.

I love your blog - your hummus recipes are to die for.I can't really say that I have an all-time favorite summer food/recipe (it is much like being asked to choose a favorite book) but your cilantro jalapeno hummus recipe is certainly among my favorites.Thank you for all of the *fabulous* recipes and engaging commentary and congratulations on your academic success.Tamtammy.sutherland@gmail.com

One of my favorite recipes for greeting a crowd is a simple white sangria that is always a hit--I hand a glass to everyone who walks in the door and it starts the party out great! One bottle white wine, one cup triple sec, 1/2 cup sugar. So easy! I keep a pile of sliced fruit (oranges, lemons, limes, strawberries) and lots of ice on hand. When people come, I fill a glass with ice and fruit then pour in the sangria. It's lovely and wonderful.

Stretch out some premade pizza dough (I love Trader Joe's whole wheat) and throw it onto the hot, oiled bbq grill. While that side is grilling, walk over to the garden and pluck off 2 ripe heirloom tomatoes and some basil. Rinse at the garden spigot. Slice the tomatoes and fresh mozzarella (also from Trader Joe's), flip the pizza dough, lay out the tomato, mozzarella, and basil, and grill until the cheese is melty.

In the summer, I like to have nice, light meals that are full of fresh fruits or vegetables. One of my favourite recipes is a cold noodle salad with baby spinach, bell peppers, red and napa cabbage, tossed with a lime/ginger/sesame/soy sauce/cilantro dressing. Yum!

From my childhood, when we used to spend the summer weekends at a cabin on the Appalachian Trail... pan fried trout, freshly caught, with lemon and tomatoes, for breakfast.

Now it's likely to be a crisp salad with nice dark greens, beautiful tomatoes, oooooooh delicious olives from the Strip District here in Pittsburgh, blueberries for the kids, bleu cheese for my husband, and some grilled tofu over top!

hello there! glad to hear that your day at the harbor was nice, it's been beautiful lately, so I'm sure it was a blast. wow, its hard to choose a favorite summer recipe, but here's a really good one: heat your grill or grill pan to high. thinly slice two large eggplant, lenghtwise. sprinkle with salt and let it stand, sweating out the bitterness for about 10 minutes. then rinse, and pat dry. liberally brush each side of each piece with olive oil, and brush the grill or grill pan with oil as well. grill the eggplant on each side, turning a few minutes in to achieve hatch marks. meanwhile, chiffonade some basil, and when the eggplant it done, lay it on a platter, overlapping slightly, and top with the basil, homemade balsamic vinegrette, and fresh saved peccorino romano. :)Courtny

My favorite summer recipe comes from a time when my family used to go rent a houseboat on Lake Shasta. At the start of the houseboat trip, we'd put our watches into a drawer, because the only time we'd need them was when we made a stop at a marina. We would spend the day reading, and deciding what would be good for dinner - no other planned activities, no TV, no phones. No matter what else we ate on the houseboat, we always made Chinese Chicken Salad. We could prep the chicken and the fried wonton strips ahead of time, and make the dressing when we needed it. Having chinese chicken salad on the back deck of the houseboat, at dusk, with a glass of white wine, watching the bats swoop over the water is one of my favorite summer memories. Whenever I make Chinese Chicken Salad, I remember those houseboat trips, and it feels like summer.

My favorite summer recipe is one that I always take to any summer gathering. I'm guaranteed I have something to eat and the non-veggie folks like it too. It's a simple tomato-cucumber salad recipe I got from a family friend.

Cube the tomatoes & cucumbers in a bowl. Drain the olives, then add. Season with salt and pepper and then add the italian dressing to taste. How much you add depends on the quality of the dressing you choice. Better quality, less dressing.

I love summer! I go to the farmer's market every week and find the greatest produce. I love to eat sweet corn and fresh tomatoes and watermelon for dessert! I also make batches of pesto and tomato sauce to freeze! Utah peaches are also great with vanilla ice cream!!

Salads! I love experimenting with whatever is in my garden or at the farmers' market. Even fruit salads are a summer staple for me. A simple recipe: really fresh ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, maybe a bell pepper... add some feta, lemon juice, olive oil and dill. you have a killer greek salad! And so easy.

1 Bring a large pot of water, salted with a teaspoon of salt, to a boil. Add the broccoli florets. Cook 1-2 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want the broccoli. 1 minute will turn the broccoli bright green, and leave it still pretty crunchy. 2 minutes will cook the broccoli through, but still firm. Set your timer and do not cook for more than 2 minutes, or the broccoli will get mushy. Drain the broccoli and immediately put into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Let cool and drain.

2 Combine broccoli florets, almonds, crumbled bacon, chopped onion, and peas in a large serving bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, cider vinegar and honey. Add dressing to the salad and toss to mix well. Chill thoroughly before serving.

though i don't really have the *means* to grill ... oh how i love grilled foods!my favorite summer recipe is for tabouli from the moosewood cookbook.it's easy to make, is well rounded, and i don't need a grill ;)

I just stumbled accross your blog through stumbleupon and love the clean design and the photos. I already have about 20 blogs in my RSS so don't normally stop and read them as already have more than i can read but the design here caught my eye! I started off as a blogger myself a year ago and like your blog always wanted to keep it fresh and clean and easy to read. I have started my own site for food bloggers, chefs and foodies in general to meet and share photos called www.ifoods.tv and would love to see some of your photos there. I set it up because I was frustrated that not enough people were seeing what I thought was my excellent blog and I afelt that every blogger in the world probably thought the same! It is basically a platform for bloggers to show off their photos and meet other foodies. Keep up the good work on the blog, have added you to make it 21 food blogs no! Cheers!

Any salads that don't have lettuce as the base. I love taco salad with spinach, greek salad, pasta salad ...mmmm... salad just screams summer. One of my absolute favorites is the Green Bean Quinoa Salad recipe from everybodylikessandwiches. Crunchy green beans, roasted Quinoa and lemony freshness. In the summer I make this salad weekly and love love love it!

Nothing says summer more to me than salads. The return of fresh corn and tomatoes are high on my salad ingredient list. Our family favorite includes these two summer staples along with cucumbers, red onion and black beans in a lime and chili vinaigrette. Add in some chopped cilantro right before serving and serve on a colorful plate to those you love. I can't wait! By the way, I never cook fresh corn right off the cob for this salad!